


three things they don't say about break ups

by undeadasleep



Category: Girl Meets World
Genre: Break Up, Cuties, F/F, F/M, Heartbreak, I'm not sorry, New Beginnings, Riarkle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-20
Updated: 2016-12-20
Packaged: 2018-09-09 23:46:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8918320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/undeadasleep/pseuds/undeadasleep
Summary: Maya could never hate Riley; they both knew that. What Maya needed was time, time away from Riley. Away from everyone. That’s why she left their group chat. That’s why she blocked Riley on every social media. She needed space. Space Riley suddenly couldn’t comprehend. Maya seemed all too content to forget Riley ever existed, that they were ever friends, let alone lovers.
	You don’t forget your first love, everyone knows that. But Maya… she did.





	

**Author's Note:**

> a piece based off of pompeii by bastille and my own personal heartbreak. here's to all the heartbroken and burnt out of 2016- it will get better.
> 
> a special shoutout to @astralfreckles for reading this before i posted<3
> 
> without further ado, here's my comeback to riarkle.

i. when it happened, they thought the sky was falling.

 

There was screaming. A single tear rolled down her cheek. She didn’t react. When the other girl yelled, she remained quiet, a standstill snapshot in the shattered apartment. They were not in love. This was all a ruse. That’s why she broke up with the girl. She wasn’t in love.

“How can you not be in love? Was this fake, a pity relationship?” The other girl demanded answers that the petite brunette did not have. So she shrugged, watching the girl with tears in her eyes.

“Why would I spend a year on a pity relationship? Especially one that was long distance half the time.” Calm. Collected. She kept a level voice even though she would rather die. Or better, go home and cry to her best friend. ...but this was home. This was her best friend. Oh, she had ruined her own life.

“So I was convenient then? A- A lesbian who just happened to be going to the same summer school as you? Is that it?” The other girl was getting louder now, and the petite girl just wanted to block it all out. The tears came harder than before, and she couldn’t even look at the other girl.

“W-Why would you be convenient? How could _long distance_ be convenient, Maya? Tell me that, please.”

“It doesn’t matter anymore, _Riley._ Goodbye.” The weight of her full name pressed against her heart; she was really doing this, really saying goodbye.

“Goodbye, Peaches. I’m sorry.”

Maya shook her head, wiping stray tears and making her way toward the door. Then, she paused, turned around. Her voice was malicious, full of nothing but ill will toward the girl she claimed to love.

“By the way,” she said, “I was going to surprise you this summer. At the school. Good thing I didn’t, huh?”

Riley’s face crumbled, every bit of resolve, every bit of ‘this is the right decision’ leaving her mind. She was sobbing now, her heart aching and her lips frozen. All she could choke out was the sound of remorse and brokenness, a weak, “I’m so sorry, Maya.”

“I want you out when I get back. Goodbye for now, Riley.” And then the other girl was gone, cold and cruel and deceiving.

 

That’s not how you love someone. Even Riley knew that.

* * *

  
ii. the infernos covered their tattered bodies in the dirt.

 

Her best friend answered the phone, and then he opened the door. Farkle always had been quick to react.

“I broke up with Maya.” She had texted him, and within minutes, he was on the phone with her. Upon seeing her situation, he moved her in with him. It was all he could do, and as a bachelor, he had too much room anyways.

“Riley, I… I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but have you… have you seen her instagram?” Farkle touched her shoulder, and she furrowed her eyebrows.

“Maya’s? No, she’s made it pretty clear she wants nothing to do with me.”

“You should look.”

The first sob was more like a scream, the anguish of having your heart ripped from your chest. Nothing else mattered. No one else could repair this. They couldn’t change time. Riley had broken up with Maya, not because it was fake, but because she fell out of love, she wanted to do right by Maya- these were the consequences.

“Maybe you should just stay off-”

“Those are my letters, Farkle. My _letters. Poems. My existence.”_ She was hysterical, unable to listen to reason. Maya was burning her letters. Where everyone could see. Where Riley could see. And she had listed Eliza Hamilton as the one who gave her the idea on how to get rid of something from “someone who didn’t care.” Because Riley was obviously the devil for breaking up with Maya. Of course she was.

“Maya has a right to be upset,” Farkle acknowledges, “but not immature. That right there… that’s immature and irresponsible. Where are Katy and Shawn?”

“They don’t care. We’re on our own now, remember? They don’t keep up quite as much as they used to.”

“Riles…”

“You know it’s true, Farkle. She burnt my letters, Farkle. She hates me.” Whatever control she had gotten over herself disappeared entirely with these few words. “She… she hates me.”

The lanky boy wrapped his arms around her in comfort, letting her sob into his shoulder. Maya could never hate Riley; they both knew that. What Maya needed was time, time away from Riley. Away from everyone. That’s why she left their group chat. That’s why she blocked Riley on every social media. She needed space. Space Riley suddenly couldn’t comprehend. Maya seemed all too content to forget Riley ever existed, that they were ever friends, let alone lovers.

 

You don’t forget your first love, everyone knows that. But Maya… she did.

* * *

iii. when the dust settled, there was ash.

 

It took them four years to mend their friendship. Farkle stood by Riley every day, and every day, she became okay with the events that had taken place. Zay had reached out to her, just so she knew that Maya was alright. Hurt, but alright. “Everyone copes in different ways,” he had said then, “and she regrets how she did.”

It took Riley six months to get over Maya. It took Maya five. No one is really sure if their love was real or not; it certainly was when it first started. Riley never meant to hurt Maya, and Maya eventually realized that. The mutual apologies came flooding in after they saw each other at Farkle’s New Year’s party three years later. The friendship took a little longer.

It took Maya a year to fall in love with another girl, a pretty redhead from her college. As far as anyone was aware, they were long term, and they were engaged. Maya had given up on long distance anything, and no one really blamed her. She knew she didn’t love boys; she could have never settled for Lucas like she had once planned to. It just wasn’t plausible. She was gay, there was no denying it.

Riley… Riley didn’t know what she was, really. She found solace in other people at first, blaming herself and her horrible attempts at affection for why she and Maya fell apart, for why she broke up with the girl she would once die for. But all that solace ran out… Until one day, Riley found her solace in Farkle. Farkle, who had waited patiently for her to be comfortable again. Farkle, who didn’t push her when they kissed for the first time. Farkle, who held her on the nights where she mourned all she had lost, more than just Maya- a part of herself had died. He waited for her, and now, they were going to be married in three days. Riley didn’t know what she was, but it was not broken.

 

When the ashes settle, can you face the person you’ve become?


End file.
